HIGH TIME THIS STRIKE IS STOPPED As much as I am not in doubt that the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU’s) strike action is altruistic and intended to improve the general quality of education in the country. But there is need for the union to reconsider its rigid stance, in view of the counterproductive effect it could have on the educational sector due to the gross distortions in the academic calendars of universities and its demoralizing effects on the students. This development would in no way help salvage the capital flight caused by the exodus of Nigerian students to universities to study in the ivory towers of neighbouring countries, for instance, over 200,000 Nigerian students were recently said to have been contributing to the economy and development of Ghanaian educational sector annually. Somehow, the perennial strike action usually embarked upon by ASUU can now without doubt compare in form, content and regularity with those popular season films that never end, such that it has come to define the essence of tertiary education in public institutions in the country. Such has been the consistency of ASUU strike for arguably over two decades now that any reference to it will elicit a cynical response; which edition? The union has even cultivated the habit of always suspending its strike actions, suggesting rather subtly and darkly, its anticipation of resumption at the drop of a hat. The current edition of the union’s strike had been provoked by the Federal Government’s lack of integrity in reneging, without qualms, on fulfilling its own part of an agreement it entered into with ASUU since 2009. While ASUU is insisting that the Federal Government should keep faith with the agreement it freely entered into four years ago, the Federal Government has said that the agreements were not implementable on its lean purse. To be sure, the government’s claim is totally inexcusable and it beggars belief that a responsible government could sign an agreement it never intended to implement. Why did the representatives of the government at the negotiation not check if the government could afford the proposal, an elementary requirement of bargaining, before entering into the agreement? How credible is the government’s claim of not being financially solvent enough to be able to fund ASUU’s demands when it has been criminally profligate in other matters that are arguably less critical to the country’s development? These are the issues which question the government’s integrity and priority and they cast a slur on the quality and calibre of the people running the affairs of the country in the education sector. But if the government can be faulted on these scores, ASUU also over the years has consistently defaulted in deploying its most potent weapon- the intellect- in the pursuit of the resolution of its grievances with the government. While strike is a way to air grievances, it is certainly not the only way. There are other ways of pursuing the union’s interests apart from the mutually assured destruction which strike guarantees and it is baffling that ASUU is yet to explore these other means that may prove to be more effective in the collective bargaining procedure. During the misbegotten military interregnum, ASUU selfishly negotiated for some offices like Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration and Academic) for its members in the belief that such offices would offer opportunities for progress in the career of its members. Prior to that, a Registrar headed the administration of these universities and they ran smoothly. ASUU was oblivious of the financial implications of the duplication of roles which the creation of these offices represented in terms of overhead for a government that would eventually find it politically expedient to establish federal universities in 36 states of the federation. Under close scrutiny, it is easy to see that while ASUU’s demands may appear ostensibly altruistic having been clothed in the garment of the overhaul of the rotten education sector, its emphasis on the payment of earned allowances for its members betrays a self-seeking agenda which deliberately ignores the interests of other workers and it is only reasonable for the union to reconcile itself with the futility of its subtle and malicious request to operate under different conditions of service from other workers in the same work environment. Besides, ASUU has always insisted on being paid for the long period during which its members have been on strike, forcing the government to pay for work not done at the appropriate time. The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, which has been rated the best in the country, is only eighth in Africa and this rating should not be acceptable to the country’s establishment as it speaks volumes about the extensive rot in the sector. The lingering strike without doubt is worsening an already deplorable situation that can be ameliorated if the parties will deploy wisdom and reason in seeking a resolution. In any event, the general impression among the people, which is unfortunate, is that the callous attitude of the establishment, not being bothered by the pain and misery inflicted on them by the ASUU strike, can be understood because it is controlled by proprietors of private universities in the country and abroad who will certainly profit from the lingering crisis and those whose children and wards attend foreign universities. It would therefore seem that between the Federal Government and ASUU, there is a deliberate and concerted collaboration to aggravate the process of attenuation which public tertiary education is experiencing in the country. Incidentally and ironically, the world is now driven more by knowledge than the much touted natural endowments, so the country is the ultimate victim of the war of attrition which the lingering strike aptly represents. The only reasonable thing is for both the government and Dr. Isah Nasiru Fagge-led ASUU to resolve the lingering crisis in the interest of the country without further ado. In the words of Enrinco Fermi, 1901-1954, an Italian theoretical physicist, “It is not good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge”. The Federal Government should stop this attempt of seeming stopping of knowledge from going forward by acceding to all the demands of ASUU. Several groups including the Directorate of Youth and Students Affairs of the Goodluck Support Group (GSG),has appealed to the ASUU to call-off its lingering strike action, in consideration of the teeming university students of Nigeria who are the greatest losers in the face-off. I believe it is better ASUU consider the offer currently put on the table by the Federal Government - N100b for the provision of infrastructure in the universities and another N30b as part of the outstanding allowances owed the lecturers and return to lecture rooms. I believe the time to end this over fifty-five day old strike is now. This madness should stop!
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 08:08:51 +0000
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